Color Management setup
| Installation • Usage • PDF issues • Other |
These are practical notes to issue a PDF for printer, using RGB images, and having to issue a CMYK PDF.
Preambule
Color Management deals with how the color are managed both in the PDF output files AND in the input image files.
Setup is spread in 3 places :
- Scribus preferences and document setup
- Color pane in the export to PDF dialog
- little "color management" button in status bar
Scribus and Document Setup
These are the preferences for the OUTPUT file.
Color pane in the export to PDF dialog
First option is to specify the output type : either RGB (web) or CMYK (printer)
Then the "united colors" and "images" title options are to specify how to read images : input setup.
Color management button down in the statusbar
This controls all !
Whenever it is not pushed, no CM will occur.
PDF output
PDF exists in many flavors : 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, X-3 (and X-1 available in scribus 1.5 svn).
Some PDF versions only accept CMYK image files like X1, some other versions accept mixes of RGB and CMYK, like X3.
- PDF/X-1a: Blind exchange in CMYK + Spot Colors, based on PDF 1.3
- PDF/X-3: Allows CMYK, Spot, Calibrated (managed) RGB, CIELAB, with ICC Profile, based on PDF 1.3.
When creating a pdf that only accepts CMYK, like PDFX1a, Scribus converts all RGB images into CMYK, using the provided color profile.